Strategy for different video poker games?

[vpguy3]

I've been practicing on my computer and reading about VP strategy for about three years. I'm convinced that the RNG is real and that playing perfect strategy does lead to wins.I play about 99.2% perfect on JB and Deuces and end up ahead most of the time.I've studied Dancer, Cardoza, Jensen and others and they don't all agree on what constitutes "perfect" strategy but they are all pretty close. I can honestly say I haven't lost at VP in some time. Can't say the same for the slots although over the last year I've hit three $1,200 pots in slots. And yes, last trip to Vegas in April I hit a RF on a ten play; unfortunately I was only playing dimes($400). Switched to quarters ($12.50 per play) and hit 4 deuces. I cashed out and took a break.I always play max.

[Eduardo]

You are right on Newbie.  Play at your own risk.  I went to an Indian casino in Miami Ok. and was playing next to my friend when she  got TWO 6 of hearts on one play.Oh now see I think that is your problem.  A lot of video poker machines at Indian reservations are not the certified machines from what I have heard.

[rascal]

The Indian casinos are not regulated. Play at your own risk!
 
Nevada regulations are duplicated in Louisiana and Mississippi, and closely duplicated in many other states. Nevada regulations are the gold standard for the industry. Nevada reg means "certified random -- no if's, no and's, no but's." If the Nevada gaming commission catches an operator modifying randomness, he/she is banned. It is not worth the risk.
 
However, I cannot say the same for Indian casinos. Maybe they are OK, but the temptation is there and no one checks. If you ask them, they will tell you they are self-regulated to the tightest standards in the world by their Indian gaming association....bla bla bla and all that. I happen to know someone who was once a mechanic for slots and video machines in a very large California Indian casino. He said there is a program sold to casino operators for Super Times Pay called "Exposure Control." "Exposure Control" prevents the machine from going beyond a certain loss benchmark. In other words, if a certain machine has already lost money for the casino beyond a certain dollar figure, the RNG will not generate a huge win for the player until the won-loss catches back up. This is illegal in regulated casinos, of course, but how many Indian Casinos have "Exposure Control" in their STP games?
 
Another example of regulation and how strict it is comes from an example of when the Multi-Strike protype was introduced for the first time at the Gaming Expo in Las Vegas some years ago. At that time, if the player failed to advance from Level One for five consecutive hands, he automatically got a Free Ride on the sixth hand to prevent him from getting discouraged and quitting. The Nevada Gaming Commisison said "No!" Their logic was that this interferred with the randomness of the game. So you see, even in a case where the game had been modified to HELP the player, not the casino, gaming regs were so tough and inflexible that the Multi-Strike Free Ride option was overruled.
 
The bottom line is: When you play at a regulated casino in a highly regulated state, what you see is what you get. It is RANDOM! Indian casinos are not regulated by credible commissions. However, don't get me wrong.....they are regulated in a sense by their players. If everyone keeps losing, no one plays. So they have to offer a certain level of winning to stay in business. But there is no assurance that randomness occurs on every single hand of every single game!
 
Note: Malfunctions do occur!!! It happens anywhere, even in a regulated state. The malfunction described above (2 6h in the same hand) is a control panel malfunction and the error override should shut the machine down automatically. If it does not, casino personnel should shut it down and report it to the state gaming casino immediately. Every hand ever flashed on the screen is saved in the database archive for up to 72 hours, so this could have been chacked. In addition, the eye in the sky can also recall the hand for the past 24 hours, so this would have been back-up if only the player had reported it. 

[rascal]

In the last paragraph of the above message, I should have said "state gaming commission", not "state gaming casino." What was I thinkin'?

[Mr. Aces]

I know IGT makes most of these poker games and thaat company makes over $2 Billion dollars a year.  If they were caught putting out a game that had these kind of problems, they would lose their gaming license, all that money and I bet some folks would be in court!
 
There are many Indian Casinos that are reputable and follow similar requirments and rules to Nevada and New Jersey casinos like Barona, Viejas, Agua Caliente, however lots of those Oklahoma ones do not.

[oej719]

Would not be the first  time a multi billion dollar company did something to jeopardize itself. Look at Enron, World com, Bristol Myers. and BP.
 
Heck do you remember Jim and Tammy Faye Baker.
 
So don't let the fact IGT is big makes them beyond being greedy

[Ohio Bob]

Not much of a conspiracy follower! Always felt the only way to keep a secret was to be the only one who knows it! With all these ,friends of friends, giving you guys the insider info, wouldn`t you think someone would get caught with their hand in the cookie jar.
I think the casino can make plenty of money from vp just manipulating the pay table.  From my observation very few who play care what it is beyond  4000 for a royale or Quad A`s for 2000!  I just left a casino where 6  (10/6/40) ddb (99.9%) sat empty most of the time, while the 8/5(96.7%) and 7/5(95.7%) games *which there are plenty of* were being played .
 
I`m sure there are plenty of ways to control the games out come in the casinos favor, but we seem to  do enough ourselves to give them our money.
 

[vpguy3]

Funny you should mention that Ohio Bob. On a recent trip to Louisiana I noticed I was the only one playing one of two 9/6 machines (they were side-by-side) while all the 8/5's were full. Wonder why? Not shopping pay tables I guess. I had to check a bunch of machines before I found the two 9/6's. BTW, hit it for about $500 in an hour.

[rascal]

I agree with VP Guy and Ohio. Amazing, isn't it, how many people will sit down at a lower paying machine with a higher paying one sitting unused two seats away! I see it all the time. Duh... Also, as a side note, check the paytable each time you change denominations on the machine! What you get for 50 cents might not be what you get for $1 or $2!!!
 
The difference on a full house dealt, which is not rare, on a STP with a multiple of 5 at 40 and 45, is $250 at the one dollar level!!!

[Ohio Bob]

They are just clueless I guess, much like I was when I first started! But I figured there must be more to this game than just guessing at the card choices. When I did an online search I was on the way!
I use this site http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vpFREE/ to check for best games at a casino, but I see they won`t be updating the list after 1 Jan 07 unless they have a casino volunteer to monitor it. Anyone have an alternate site that might be helpful?